In St. Mary’s County, a mile from Scotland and a mile and a half from Point Lookout, just off the main road is St. Michael’s Manor. The land of the original estate was one of

“Thanks so much - it was wonderful!”
- A.M., New York, NY

“Lovely home, hosts, food and grounds!”
- B.H., SpringLake Hts, NJ

“Hurray for Scotland! We’ll send friends!”
- L.F., Falls Church, VA

three manors south of Smith Creek granted to Governor Leonard Calvert in 1639, “with the right of Court Baron and Court Leet.”
    St. Michael’s Manor probably was built by James L. Richardson about 1805. There is a brick in the house, formerly in a cornerstone, that says, J.L.R. 1805. Other families who have owned the house are the Langleys, the Milburns, the Williamson Smiths, and the Visek’s. In 1982 it was purchased by the present owners, Capt. and Mrs. Joseph L. Dick. The Richardson family are all buried in a graveyard in the woods, some 150 yards north of the manor, enclosed with a wrought-iron fence. James Richardson died in 1824.

    The two-and-a-half storey house lies within fifty feet of the water in a meadow almost level with the cove. It faces the road now, but at one time the front door opened on the water side. From the wide brick ends rise chimneys which are flush with the walls. To the right of the house entrance is a small one storey wing believed to have been a slave cabin.
    The entrance leads to a hall running through the house to the back door. The front door is quite interesting as it has flush paneling on the outside and sunken on the inner side. Both doors have old locks which were made and patented in England by J. Young. In the two small low-ceilinged rooms on the first floor there is no

paneling, but a chair rails runs around the walls. As the groundwater level is near the surface there is no cellar.
     The original small twisted stairway was redone in the 1960’s and is now wider. There is no paneling on the first floor stairway, but there is on the second and third floors. It is rather remarkable that the second storey should have the benefit of the paneling instead of the first. Perhaps the family had their living quarters on this floor and conducted business matters below. Many of the doors in St. Michael’s manor are hung from the original H and HL hinges.
    Tradition has it that the bricks in this house came from England, and it is said that one can see the remains of the boat which carried

them, sunk in the cove. However, the bricks themselves seem to have the same characteristics as those found in other houses of the same period in St. Mary’s County.

Reprinted from Colonial and Historic Homes of Maryland, by Don Swann, jr.